Middleboro mom remains in coma after crash

Friday

Jul 20, 2012 at 12:01 AMJul 20, 2012 at 8:15 PM

Linda Millett, 30, remains at Boston Medical Center, where she has been hospitalized since the July 4 crash in Middleboro that killed her boyfriend of two years and sent her son, Evan, to the hospital. Two weeks later, she is still in critical condition. The driver of the pickup who caused the crash also died.

Amy Carboneau

Her ankles are broken. Both legs are broken. Her hips are broken. Her brain is so swollen doctors can’t even lie her down to perform surgery.

Linda Millett, 30, remains at Boston Medical Center, where she has been hospitalized in a coma since the July 4 crash in Middleboro that killed her boyfriend of two years and sent her 5-year-old son, Evan, to the hospital. Two weeks later, she is still in critical condition.

Her condition is the same as when first-responders pulled her from the mangled, upside-down car, says her mother, Sandra Millett.

“It would have to be a miracle itself, a pure miracle for her to come back,” Millett said Thursday. “She just got hit too hard.” The crash occurred about 6:30 p.m. that Wednesday night. A wrong-way driver, who police said was driving 87 mph in the wrong lane of Route 105, drove head-on into the car that carried Millett, her son and her boyfriend, Chris Backman, who was killed.

“They never had a chance to get out of the way,” said Sandra Millett, 52, who said she hasn’t been able to watch any of the news about the crash.

Millett had no harsh words for the driver of the pickup who caused the crash, 27-year-old Patrick Adams of Plympton, who also died. But she said she can’t quite bring herself to say a prayer for his family, either.

“He wiped out three families in one hit. No one’s ever going to be the same,” Millett said. “All I can say is, God rest his soul.” Police are awaiting toxicology reports from an autopsy on Adams. A spoon and syringe, consistent with heroin use, were found by police at the scene.

Millett lived in the same Middleboro apartment with her 30-year-old daughter and grandson, Evan Tyler, who Millett said suffered a serious gash across his head and neck.

He was rescued from the overturned car by a passer-by and released from Children’s Hospital in Boston two days after the crash. The boy is staying for now with his father in New Hampshire.

“He tells me, ‘Nana, I remember the car rolling over,’” Millett said. “He was awake during the whole thing.” Millett wants to set up a trust for her grandson and to pay for hospital bills, which she estimated could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Insurance won’t pay for everything, she said. A local bank called her Thursday to assist her with a fund.

She is scared. Not from the looming debt, but for the phone call that could come anytime, saying it’s all over. Or for who her daughter will be if she wakes up.

“I’m just praying to God that she’ll make it,” Millett said.

Amy Carboneau may be reached at acarboneau@enterprisenews.com, or follow her on Twitter @amycarboneau.